Various clamping arrangements are known as prior art for clamping a piece to a machine tool. An example of these is the clamping arrangement of the present applicant, marketed under the name Multi-Rail RM System, see http://www.ok-vise.com/images/stories/pdf/okvise_multirail_s4_v1_eng_small.pdf (printed on 29, May 2013, the printout archived by the applicant). Its basic component is a rail-like frame equipped with a fastening groove for the fixing stopper and the fastening clamp. The fixing stopper and the fastening clamp are fixedly mounted to the rail and the piece is clamped between these with the fastening clamp. The aforementioned arrangement is adequate in many clamping situations; however, it lacks the centralising property, for example.
Another method of clamping a piece by means of one-sided clamping is to use a screw clamp. However, a disadvantage of such screw clamps is their poor ergonomics during use. In certain clamping situations, the screw rod of the screw clamp may extend far from the machining tool. This causes ergonomic disadvantages, for example, when a heavy piece is mounted to the screw clamp for machining. In this case, a far-extending rod hinders the process of bringing and mounting the piece to the screw clamp as well as its removal.
A third clamping arrangement known as prior art are centralising screw clamps which enable centralising clamping of pieces. In these, the frame of the fastening device includes two clamping jaws adapted to move relative to the frame. The clamping jaws are connected to each other with a turnable screw rod.
Each of the solutions known as prior art only offers individual clamping modes. This creates the need to change the fastening device if the clamping mode of the piece changes. This binds workforce and time resources, which are thus away from the operating time of a cost-intensive machine tool. In addition, known clamping solutions are also associated with ergonomic disadvantages, for instance, owing to high-profile clamping jaws, particularly with heavy pieces.